Even though opting for comfort over dressing up is a commonality around FHC, within the school, numerous students love to express themselves with varying styles and clothing choices.
For junior Alex Fletcher, the arts have helped her develop her personal style. Typically, Alex will plan out her outfits for school as she lays in bed the night before, but in the morning, the music she listens to influences what she ends up wearing.
Even more so, Alex’s artistic skill and awareness have influenced how she chooses to dress.
“I used to dress so badly,” Alex said. “But, I have developed into more of an artist, and, as an artist, I think about color palettes, aesthetics, and cohesiveness. [Because of my interest in art], I started to bring [these design skills] into my day-to-day life.”
Alex’s style is essentially composed of whatever she feels like wearing that day and can be self-described as “grandma” and “Goodwill.”
Concerning freshman Micah McClarty, her style has evolved—with the help of Pinterest, YouTube, and Rory Gilmore—since her middle school years.
“I don’t like putting myself in a box of style; I think it inhibits creativity,” Micah said. “I do think a lot of my outfits [could be described] as ‘Downtown Girl,’ [but] I’m all over the place. I like aspects of every [style]. There are some styles that I prefer to stay away from, but, [overall], I’m kind of a mix between ‘Christian Girl Autumn’ and ‘Downtown Girl.’”
On Micah’s past birthday, as a gift, she went to get her color analysis. For those unfamiliar, the process involves testing different colors with one’s skin tones to find the shades that compliment their natural colors best.
Micah’s results told her that “her colors” include pastels, neutrals, and earthy tones. Even though she doesn’t actively seek out certain clothing because of its color scheme, she has found that she tends to subconsciously gravitate towards more muted tones than bright colors nonetheless.
For sophomore Ava Casto, the opposite is true; she frequently incorporates vivid hues into her outfits and makeup.
“[I like incorporating color in my outfits and looks because] I just think it’s fun to be bright and be fun,” Ava said. “I just want to feel good every time I look at myself and make myself a work of art.”
As a self-proclaimed “Pinterest Girlie,” Ava tends to gather her style inspiration from her Pinterest boards. However, one of her fashion inspirations is Luna Lovegood, an idiosyncraticly dressed character from the Harry Potter franchise.
Ava doesn’t consider herself someone who follows specific fashion trends. Rather, she sees certain elements of clothes she enjoys and appreciates them but doesn’t consider herself to be up to date with current clothing fads.
Similarly, Alex tends to forge her own path when it comes to currently popular styles.
“No, [I would not consider myself someone who follows fashion trends] because I just do my own thing,” Alex said. “[If I wear colors or not] depends on the day. I do not have an ‘aesthetic.’’’
Even though Alex, Ava, and Micah can all agree on the fact that they have developed their own style without blindly following what they see around them, they can still appreciate in vogue designs.
Specifically, the recent prevalence of bows receives high praise from both Micah and Ava.
“I think [bows] are adorable,” Ava said. “I wish I had longer hair so I could wear them. [Bows] add such a fun element to outfits. I love [seeing them] on hair, earrings, and little ties on shirts or pants. I think they’re cute.”
Micah also enjoys the resurgence of the feminine fashion staple.
“I think it’s really cute how we’re adding bows to our belts, putting them in our hair, and putting them on breakup texts,” Micah said. “I love bows, ribbons, and super frilly sort of things.”
For the most part, however, the three have found their respective styles by following what they are drawn to. Secondhand shopping, they can all agree, is one of the easiest ways to find affordable and unique clothing.
I just want to feel good every time I look at myself and make myself a work of art.
— Ava Casto
“I usually [shop] at thrift stores,” Ava said. “Everything [at thrift stores] is usually more unique. Also, most of the clothes I get I pay for myself, and [clothes] are cheaper at [thrift stores], obviously.”
The affordability aspect of thrift shopping is especially appealing because, similar to the vast majority of high school students, Ava, Alex, and Micah have limited spending money.
How Alex likes to purchase her clothing involves an outing to Goodwill where she typically spends around $100 per trip. Typically, she can get around 20 new pieces of clothing with her budget.
“I [prefer] quantity over quality [for clothing],” Alex said. “I don’t care about name brands and as long as [the clothes] are comfy to wear, I don’t care. Goodwill gets me good stuff for [prices like] five dollars.”
One of the attractive aspects of thrifting for Micah arises from her belief in being conscious of clothing overconsumption. Microtrends come in and out of style more often than ever before, leading many people, particularly internet influencers, to purchase clothing items only to wear them once or twice.
Micah, understandably, finds it unsustainable to buy exorbitant amounts of clothing items because clothes are meant to be worn multiple different times for the vast majority of people have washing machines for a reason.
Because of this, Micah is conscious of what clothing items she chooses to spend her money on to ensure that she won’t get caught up in a pattern of overconsumption. Recently, she was interested in the popular knit bolero top, but has found that they are becoming shunned even though they were trendy only a few mere months ago.
“I try to find things that I sense are going to be [in style] for a while,” Micah said. “I would say that I do follow aspects of trends, I just try my best not to [follow trends] too much and find my own [style] just so that I’m not declaring them shamefully obsolete a year later.”
Aside from thrift shopping, both Micah and Alex have obtained some of their clothing in the form of hand-me-downs from family members. Micah often acquires clothing pieces from her cousins’ or mom’s old unwanted clothes and even steals clothes from her dad’s closet herself.
For Alex, her favorite piece of clothing is from her Grandparents’ closet, a recurring staple that she returns to their home to steal each winter.
“[My favorite piece of clothing that I own] is my grandpa’s bright orange camouflage print hunting coat,” Alex said. “It is the most iconic thing I’ve ever [owned], and it’s really warm.”
Regardless of the ways to obtain new clothes, Alex, Ava, and Micah enjoy finding their clothing in more unconventional ways than a simple mall trip or online browsing.
The three enjoy being able to display parts of their character on an artistic level through the clothing, accessories, and makeup that they put on each morning before school.
“I think that [fashion and makeup] are good ways to express yourself because, obviously, there are no limits to what you can or can’t wear,” Ava said. “The limit is your imagination. I always think it’s neat to see people’s styles because it gives you a little look into who they are as a person and how they see the world around them.”
